Presentation of Arzon

The municipality of Arzon (2,153 inhabitants in 2006; 893 ha) is
located at the end of the Rhuys Peninsula, limited by the Gulf of
Morbihan (north) and the Atlantic Ocean (south). Arzon has two summer
resorts, Port Navalo and Le Crouesty, and 3,5 km of beaches, out of 35
km of coast.

Arzon is the place in the Rhuys peninsula with the oldest documented
history; in 836, King Louis the Pious granted the village to the St.
Saviour abbey in Redon. A possible etymology of the village's name is
a redonense, "(depending) on Redon".
Arzon is made of two main villages, Kerners, believed to be the oldest
one, and Arzon proper, once called Locmaria, surrounded by several
smaller villages and hamlets. Locmaria developed around a priory set
up by the monks from Redon, of which only the barn, today a private
house, has been preserved. The priory's chapel, already described as
"in bad state" in 1680, was damaged during the French Revolution,
partially destroyed in 1815 and eventually replaced by the modern
parish church erected in 1848-1866. One of the stained-galls windows
of the choir represents the Battle of Schooneveld (1673), which
involved several seamen from the village, all of them proudly
surviving the fighting.
The narrow entrance of the Gulf of Morbihan is watched by a statue of
St. Ann, the patron saint of Brittany, specifically venerated in Arzon
since the Battle of Schooneveld. At the end of the 19th century, a
young woman was found dead near the Bilgroix Point; it was
subsequently found that she was pregnant and had been killed by her
lover, who was sentenced to deportation in the penitentiary colony of
Cayenne (French Guyana).

The sea resort of Port-Navalo developed in the 19th century.
Inaugurated in 1910, a small train served Port-Navalo and the villages
of Arzon from Vannes, via Theix and Surzur. In 1859, a young seaman
was found death on the beach of Port-Navalo; the "little ship's boy",
never identified, was buried in the village's cemetery, where his tomb
is still carefully flourished by the villagers.
The modern marina of Le Crouesty, today the second biggest marina on
the French Atlantic coast (1,432 moorings), was built in the 1970s in
the Croisty Cove.
The chapel of Croisty was founded by the monks of the abbey of Rhuys
to commemorate the death of their patron saint and alleged founder,
St. Gildas. The saint died on 29 January 565; following his last wish,
his body was abandoned in a boat, which eventually landed on 11 May
565 on the site where the chapel would be built. Every year, the monks
went to the chapel on 11 May to celebrate the event. Built too close
from the shore, the chapel crashed down several times into the sea and
was eventually rebuilt in 1826 in a safer place.

The Tumiac tumulus (56 m in diameter, 18 m in height), located close
to Arzon, is locally called Caesar's Mound, since Caesar is believed
to have watched from the top of the mound the naval battle won in 56
BC by the Romans over the Veneti. The tumulus offers indeed a circular
view on the Gulf of Morbihan, the Rhuys Peninsula and the Quiberon
Peninsula.

Flag of Arzon

The flag of Arzon, as shown (photo) in the book L'aventure des
drapeaux, by Luc Doublet (1987) [dou87], is white with the municipal coat of arms in the middle.

The arms of Arzon are "Or a sailboat argent equipped ermine on a base
azure". The shield is surmounted by a scroll inscribed "SOUREIN AR
VOR" and surmounts a scroll inscribed with " MARIA SUPER OMNIA". The
motto means, in Breton and Latin, respectively, "The sea over all".
On the flag, the scrolls are blue and the base of the shield is
inscribed with "ARZON", in black.

Pascal Vagnat& Ivan Sache, 7 October 2011

Yacht Club Crouesty-Arzon

Burgee of YCCA, two versions - Images by Ivan Sache, 26 December 2004

Yacht Club Crouesty-Arzon (YCCA, website) has a truncated burgee quarterly divided white-blue-blue-blue by a red cross fimbriated in white. A sailing ship (blue sail, yellow hull) is placed in the first quarter and the initials "Y. C. C. A." in yellow are placed in an arched pattern in the third quarter.

The list of the clubs affiliated to Yacht Club de France shows the burgee of YCCA with a blue border around the canton.